I promised myself I wouldn’t write a “2015 goals” entry; quite often it’s setting you up for a fall as unforeseen circumstances later in the year prevent you from reaching your well-intended goals, and leave you feeling crappy as a result.

But what the hell — one of the things I want to do in 2015 is write more often, so I might as well get in the habit.

I’m intentionally keeping some aspects of the goals vague. I don’t want to get too locked in to something, only to get to December 31st and feel crap for missing a load of my targets! And yes, some of these aspirations are very stereotypical!

1 — Get More Active.

This is the one everyone does. I know it, you know it. Like many geeks around the world, I work at a desk, then come home and plonk myself in front of a screen of some sort, and that’s me until bed time. Over the last few years I’ve slowly built my activity levels up – thanks to FitBit trackers and various apps, I tend to walk more than the average desk jockey, and I have some fitness equipment at home I make use of. But this year it gets serious. An average of 3 workouts of 45 minutes or more per week on top of my existing activity levels is my goal. Over the festive week I managed to get 3 hour-long gym sessions comfortably done, so as long as I can keep motivated to go, this should actually be one of the easier goals.

2 — Write More.

2014 was my second best year ever for blogging – largely due to a massive spurt at the end of the year. I’d like to keep that going, now I’m over the festive break. Ideally, I want to write more this year than in any year previous. If I can keep up a steady pace then it will be practice which puts me in good stead for another long-term goal of getting something published. Inspiration is going to be key to meeting this aspiration, and I know sometimes I will struggle and fall short of where I’d like to be. Consistency will be key.

3 — Play More Games.

I have a PS3 I only use for blu-ray movies, WWE Network, and Netflix. I have a stack of board games and tabletop games I’ve yet to play. I have a gamingtable I’ve only played on once. This needs to change. I love gaming so much, but in 2014 I feel like I just wasted time and money on a hobby I just didn’t do justice to. If I’m going to manage to play one game of every game I own, then I’m going to complete a few other “sub-goals” such as finish painting a playable Warhammer 40,000 army, assemble and/or paint the contents of each starter set I’ve got, and get some place comfortable for playing board games with friends and family. I have my eye on something here, but it’ll have to wait until later in the year I suspect.

4 — Read More.

I have this on my list simply because it’s something I always want to do, and it’s one of the best ways to be a better writer. Reading is so much more evocative than most other forms of entertainment, that even though I read quite a lot already, I never feel like I read enough. On top of that, there are so many “classic” books I have yet to read — even in the genres I tend to stick to. So I’m going to try and read more. There’s not much more to be said here, really!

So that’s it, my grand plan for 2015. Well, not really. There’s more to my plans for this year than what’s written above. But I have to keep some things to myself — I can’t give away too many spoilers up front! Some goals/plans/ambitions will be written about at a more appropriate time, as will updates on how I’m progressing with those written here.